Culture beat: 29 May

It’s the annual celebration Neighbours Day (La fête des voisins/ Dag van de beuren) today. Aimed at encouraging community awareness and combatting social isolation, individuals can register a party, get information on how to host an event, or simply hold an impromptu gathering. My neighbours and myself are opting for the latter. It’s just a shame about the weather!

Retro continues to rage across Europe and one of its biggest vintage fairs, Retrorama, returns this year as a full-length weekend event Flashback Festival, until Sunday at Brussels Expo. Among the ‘old timer’ entertainers headlining the festival, are Irish singer Chris de Burgh (my first celebrity interviewee I do believe), Brigitte, Murray Head, The Temptations, formers singers of The Supremes and Belgium’s own perennially popular Machiavel. Plus second-hand merchandise, workshops, dance classes, roller-dancing and a corner for the kids.

If it’s retro sounds you are searching for, head to the Ravenstein Gallery on Sunday from 10.00 to 18.00. The Vinyl Record Fair is a biannual gathering of dealers and collectors from Belgium and neighbouring countries with multi-genre records on sale.

Walloon comedy Jacques a vu is screening at Jacques Franck cultural centre in Saint-Gilles on Sunday evening, in the presence of director Xavier Diskeuve and cast-members. Shot entirely in Diskeuve’s home province of Namur, Jacques a vu is his first full-length feature following a series of award-winning shorts. When a young couple move from the city to a village in the Ardennes, they are shocked to discover that a Dutch holiday camp is to be built in their garden. Resistance appears futile until cousin Jacques, a tongue-tied bachelor farmer, apparently receives a vision from the Virgin Mary.

UK broadcaster and journalist Mariella Frostrup tackles the thorny issue of gender at international networking club Full Circle’s Talking Heads dinner on Tuesday 2 June at 19.30. Discussing what men think of women, she seeks to disrupt the stereotypes in the talking heads dinner billed, ‘a must for women, men, and parents!’.

Live comedy fanatics need to book tickets for the final shows of the season in Brussels. First up is Stephen K Amos with Welcome to My World on Thursday June 4. The Fun, Food & Acting evening is at home venue, Théâtre de la Toison d’Or. Dinner also an option.

Fellow British comedians Hal Cruttenden and Tom Binns as spoof psychic Ian D Montford close the Stand Up Brussels season on Saturday 6 June at Théâtre 140. Funny man Cruttenden is a professional actor who has built a solid reputation on the comedy circuit since his nomination for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Festival in 2002. Montford is Binns’ comedy clairvoyant alter-ego; this new show is full of tricks and comic patter. Pre-show Indian buffet available for €12.